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Evidence Considered: The Making of a Cover

At some point, I thought I might make some of my blog into a book (available here), so I idly mentioned cover design to my friend Joshua Wright. And so began an entertaining art project.

First, we needed a concept. I had an idea of Lady Justice, weighing the evidence, which fits with the book’s theme. But Josh saw some deeper levels to the analogy. What if considering the evidence was an act of rebellion? Graffiti on a structure that was beginning to crumble. I had used similar analogies in some of my writing and so the idea evolved.

Josh then said that the most authentic way to do this would be to physically make a wall and stencil. We briefly considered actual graffiti but decided against it. Thankfully I am old enough to buy spray paint at the local Home Depot, and so a plan was hatched.

I was also in the process of taking a sabbatical from my work and realized that there was a little free time on the waterjet machine, which they kindly helped me use on my last day there. So Josh designed the stencil and I cut it into a scrap piece of steel. We got an old piece of wood and slathered some goop on it. The result is hanging on my wall and can be seen on the cover above. I thought I would share a few images of the process.

Stencil Design

Short video of the creation of the stencil:

Finished Stencil

Lady Justice Graffitied on her crumbling wallJosh working on the Evidence Considered book cover